HAMBURG, a seaport of Germany, capital of the free state
of Hamburg, on the right bank of the northern arm of the Elbe,
75 m. from its mouth at Cuxhaven and 178 m. N.W. from Berlin
by rail. It is the largest and most important seaport on the
continent of Europe and (after London and New York) the
third largest in the world. Were it not for political and municipal
boundaries Hamburg might be considered as forming with Altona
and Ottensen (which lie within Prussian territory) one town. The
view of the three from the south, presenting a continuous river
frontage of six miles, the river crowded with shipping and the
densely packed houses surmounted by church towers — of which
three are higher than the dome of St Paul's in London — is one
of great magnificence.

The city proper lies on both sides of the little river Alster,
which, dammed up a short distance from its mouth, forms a
lake, of which the southern portion within the line of the former
fortifications bears the name of the Inner Alster (Binnen Alster),
and the other and larger portion (2500 yards long and 1300 yards
at the widest) that of the Outer Alster (Aussen Alster). The
fortifications as such were removed in 1815, but they have left
their trace in a fine girdle of green round the city, though too
many inroads on its completeness have been made by railways
and roadways. The oldest portion of the city is that which lies
to the east, of the Alster; but, though it still retains the name of
Altstadt, nearly all trace of its antiquity has disappeared, as it
was rebuilt after the great fire of 1842. To the west lies the
new town (Neustadt), incorporated in 1678; beyond this and
contiguous to Altona is the former suburb of St Pauli,
incorporated in 1876, and towards the north-east that of St Georg,
which arose in the 13th century but was not incorporated till
1868.

Emery Walker sc.

The old town lies low, and it is traversed by a great number
of narrow canals or “fleets” (Fleeten) — for the same word which
has left its trace in London nomenclature is used in the Low
German city — which add considerably to the picturesqueness
of the meaner quarters, and serve as convenient channels for
the transport of goods. They generally form what may be called
the back streets, and they are bordered by warehouses, cellars
and the lower class of dwelling-houses. As they are subject to
the ebb and flow of the Elbe, at certain times they run almost
dry. As soon as the telegram at Cuxhaven announces high tide
three shots are fired from the harbour to warn the inhabitants
of the “fleets”; and if the progress of the tide up the river gives
indication of danger, other three shots follow. The “fleets”
with their quaint medieval warehouses, which come sheer down
to the water, and are navigated by barges, have gained for
Hamburg the name of “Northern Venice.” They are, however,
though antique and interesting, somewhat dismal and unsavoury.
In fine contrast to them is the bright appearance of the Binnen
Alster, which is enclosed on three sides by handsome rows of
buildings, the Alsterdamm in the east, the Alter Jungfernstieg
in the south, and the Neuer Jungfernstieg in the west, while
it is separated from the Aussen Alster by part of the rampart
gardens traversed by the railway uniting Hamburg with Altona
and crossing the lakes by a beautiful bridge — the Lombards-Brücke.
Around the outer lake are grouped the suburbs
Harvestehude and Pösseldorf on the western shore, and Uhlenhorst
on the eastern, with park-like promenades and villas
surrounded by well-kept gardens. Along the southern end of
the Binnen Alster runs the Jungfernstieg with fine shops, hotels
and restaurants facing the water. A fleet of shallow-draught
screw steamers provides a favourite means of communication
between the business centre of the city and the outlying colonies
of villas.

The streets enclosing the Binnen Alster are fashionable
promenades, and leading directly from this quarter are the main
business thoroughfares, the Neuer-Wall, the Grosse Bleichen
and the Hermannstrasse. The largest of the public squares in
Hamburg is the Hopfenmarkt, which contains the church of
St Nicholas (Nikolaikirche) and is the principal market for
vegetables and fruit. Others of importance are the Gänsemarkt,
the Zeughausmarkt and the Grossneumarkt. Of the thirty-five
churches existing in Hamburg (the old cathedral had to be taken
down in 1805), the St Petrikirche, Nikolaikirche, St Katharinenkirche,
St Jakobikirche and St Michaeliskirche are those that
give their names to the five old city parishes. The Nikolaikirche
is especially remarkable for its spire, which is 473 ft. high and
ranks, after those of Ulm and Cologne, as the third highest
ecclesiastical edifice in the world. The old church was destroyed
in the great fire of 1842, and the new building, designed by Sir
George Gilbert Scott in 13th century Gothic, was erected 1845-1874.
The exterior and interior are elaborately adorned with
sculptures. Sandstone from Osterwald near Hildesheim was
used for the outside, and for the inner work a softer variety from
Postelwitz near Dresden. The Michaeliskirche, which is built
on the highest point in the city and has a tower 428 ft. high,
was erected (1750-1762) by Ernst G. Sonnin on the site of the
older building of the 17th century destroyed by lightning; the
interior, which can contain 3000 people, is remarkable for its
bold construction, there being no pillars. The St Petrikirche,
originally consecrated in the 12th century and rebuilt in the
14th, was the oldest church in Hamburg; it was burnt in 1842 and
rebuilt in its old form in 1844-1849. It has a graceful tapering
spire 402 ft. in height (completed 1878); the granite columns
from the old cathedral, the stained glass windows by Kellner
of Nuremberg, and H. Schubert's fine relief of the entombment
of Christ are worthy of notice. The St Katharinenkirche and
the St Jakobikirche are the only surviving medieval churches,
but neither is of special interest. Of the numerous other churches,
Evangelical, Roman Catholic and Anglican, none are of special
interest. The new synagogue was built by Rosengarten between
1857 and 1859, and to the same architect is due the sepulchral
chapel built for the Hamburg merchant prince Johann Heinrich,
Freiherr von Schröder (1784-1883), in the churchyard of the
Petrikirche. The beautiful chapel of St Gertrude was unfortunately
destroyed in 1842.

Hamburg has comparatively few secular buildings of great
architectural interest, but first among them is the new Rathaus,
a huge German Renaissance building, constructed of sandstone
in 1886-1897, richly adorned with sculptures and with a spire
330 ft. in height. It is the place of meeting of the municipal
council and of the senate and contains the city archives.
Immediately adjoining it and connected with it by two wings is
the exchange. It was erected in 1836-1841 on the site of the
convent of St Mary Magdalen and escaped the conflagration of
1842. It was restored and enlarged in 1904, and shelters the
commercial library of nearly 100,000 vols. During the business
hours (1-3 p.m.) the exchange is crowded by some 5000 merchants
and brokers. In the same neighbourhood is the Johanneum,
erected in 1834 and in which are preserved the town library of
about 600,000 printed books and 5000 MSS. and the collection
of Hamburg antiquities. In the courtyard is a statue (1885)
of the reformer Johann Bugenhagen. In the Fischmarkt,
immediately south of the Johanneum, a handsome fountain
was erected in 1890. Directly west of the town hall is the new
Stadthaus, the chief police station of the town, in front of which
is a bronze statue of the burgomaster Karl Friedrich Petersen
(1809-1892), erected in 1897. A little farther away are the
headquarters of the Patriotic Society (Patriotische Gesellschaft),
founded in 1765, with fine rooms for the meetings of artistic
and learned societies. Several new public buildings have been
erected along the circuit of the former walls. Near the west
extremity, abutting upon the Elbe, the moat was filled in in
1894-1897, and some good streets were built along the site,
while the Kersten Miles-Brücke, adorned with statues of four
Hamburg heroes, was thrown across the Helgoländer Allee.
Farther north, along the line of the former town wall, are the
criminal law courts (1879-1882, enlarged 1893) and the civil
law courts (finished in 1901). Close to the latter stand the new
supreme court, the old age and accident state insurance offices,
the chief custom house, and the concert hall, founded by Karl
Laeisz, a former Hamburg wharfinger. Farther on are the
chemical and the physical laboratories and the Hygienic
Institute. Facing the botanical gardens a new central post-office,
in the Renaissance style, was built in 1887. At the west end of
the Lombards-Brücke there is a monument by Schilling,
commemorating the war of 1870-71. A few streets south of that is
a monument to Lessing (1881); while occupying a commanding
site on the promenades towards Altona is the gigantic statue of
Bismarck which was unveiled in June 1906. The Kunst-Halle
(the picture gallery), containing some good works by modern
masters, faces the east end of Lombards-Brücke. The new
Natural History Museum, completed in 1891, stands a little
distance farther south. To the east of it comes the Museum
for Art and Industry, founded in 1878, now one of the most
important institutions of the kind in Germany, with which
is connected a trades school. Close by is the Hansa-fountain
(65 ft. high), erected in 1878. On the north-east side of the
suburb of St Georg a botanical museum and laboratory have
been established. There is a new general hospital at Eppendorf,
outside the town on the north, built on the pavilion principle,
and one of the finest structures of the kind in Europe; and at
Ohlsdorf, in the same direction, a crematorium was built in 1801
in conjunction with the town cemeteries (370 acres). There
must also be mentioned the fine public zoological gardens,
Hagenbeck's private zoological gardens in the vicinity, the
schools of music and navigation, and the school of commerce.
In 1900 a high school for shipbuilding was founded, and in 1901
an institute for seamen's and tropical diseases, with a laboratory
for their physiological study, was opened, and also the first
public free library in the city. The river is spanned just above
the Frei Hafen by a triple-arched railway bridge, 1339 ft. long,
erected in 1868-1873 and doubled in width in 1894. Some 270
yds. higher up is a magnificent iron bridge (1888) for vehicles
and foot passengers. The southern arm of the Elbe, on the
south side of the island of Wilhelmsburg, is crossed by another
railway bridge of four arches and 2050 ft. in length.

Railways. — The through railway traffic of Hamburg is practically
confined to that proceeding northwards — to Kiel and Jutland
and for the accommodation of such trains the central (terminus)
station at Altona is the chief gathering point. The Hamburg
stations, connected with the other by the Verbindungs-Bahn
(or metropolitan railway) crossing the Lombards-Brücke, are
those of the Venloer (or Hanoverian, as it is often called)
Bahnhof on the south-east, in close proximity to the harbour,
into which converge the lines from Cologne and Bremen, Hanover
and Frankfort-on-Main, and from Berlin, via Nelzen; the
Klostertor-Bahnhof (on the metropolitan line) which temporarily
superseded the old Berlin station, and the Lübeck station a little
to the north-east, during the erection of the new central station,
which occupies a site between the Klostertor-Bahnhof and the
Lombards-Brücke. Between this central station and Altona
terminus runs the metropolitan railway, which has been raised
several feet so as to bridge over the streets, and on which lie
the important stations Dammtor and Sternschanze. An excellent
service of electric trams interconnect the towns of Hamburg,
Altona and the adjacent suburbs, and steamboats provide
communication on the Elbe with the riparian towns and villages;
and so with Blankenese and Harburg, with Stade, Glückstadt
and Cuxhaven.

Trade and Shipping. — Probably there is no place which during
the last thirty years of the 19th century grew faster commercially
than Hamburg. Its commerce is, however, almost entirely of
the nature of transit trade, for it is not only the chief distributing
centre for the middle of Europe of the products of all other parts
of the world, but is also the chief outlet for German, Austrian,
and even to some extent Russian (Polish) raw products and
manufactures. Its principal imports are coffee (of which it is
the greatest continental market), tea, sugar, spices, rice, wine
(especially from Bordeaux), lard (from Chicago), cereals, sago,
dried fruits, herrings, wax (from Morocco and Mozambique),
tobacco, hemp, cotton (which of late years shows a large increase),
wool, skins, leather, oils, dyewoods, indigo, nitrates, phosphates
and coal. Of the total importations of all kinds of coal to
Hamburg, that of British coal, particularly from Northumberland
and Durham, occupies the first place, and despite some falling off
in late years, owing to the competition made by Westphalian
coal, amounts to more than half the total import. The increase
of the trade of Hamburg is most strikingly shown by that of
the shipping belonging to the port. Between 1876 and 1880
there were 475 sailing vessels with a tonnage of 230,691, and
110 steam-ships with a tonnage of 87,050. In 1907 there were
(exclusive of fishing vessels) 470 sailing ships with a tonnage of
271,661, and 610 steamers with a tonnage of 1,236,449. In
1870 the crews numbered 6900 men, in 1907 they numbered
29,536.

Industries. — The development of manufacturing industries
at Hamburg and its immediate vicinity since 1880, though not so
rapid as that of its trade and shipping, has been very remarkable,
and more especially has this been the case since the year 1888,
when Hamburg joined the German customs union, and the
barriers which prevented goods manufactured at Hamburg from
entering into other parts of Germany were removed. Among
the chief industries are those for the production of articles of
food and drink. The import trade of various cereals by sea to
Hamburg is very large, and a considerable portion of this corn
is converted into flour at Hamburg itself. There are also, in
this connexion, numerous bakeries for biscuit, rice-peeling mills
and spice mills. Besides the foregoing there are cocoa, chocolate,
confectionery and baking-powder factories, coffee-roasting and
ham-curing and smoking establishments, lard refineries,
margarine manufactories and fish-curing, preserving and packing
factories. There are numerous breweries, producing annually
about 24,000,000 gallons of beer, spirit distilleries and factories
of artificial waters. Yarns, textile goods and weaving industries
generally have not attained any great dimensions, but there are
large jute-spinning mills and factories for cotton-wool and
cotton driving-belts. Among other important articles of
domestic industry are tobacco and cigars (manufactured mainly
in bond, within the free harbour precincts), hydraulic machinery,
electro-technical machinery, chemical products (including
artificial manures), oils, soaps, india-rubber, ivory and celluloid
articles and the manufacture of leather.

Shipbuilding has made very important progress, and there
are at present in Hamburg eleven large shipbuilding yards,
employing nearly 10,000 hands. Of these, however, only three
are of any great extent, and one, where the largest class of
ocean-going steamers and of war vessels for the German navy
are built, employs about 5000 persons. There are also two yards
for the building of pleasure yachts and rowing-boats (in both
which branches of sport Hamburg takes a leading place in
Germany). Art industries, particularly those which appeal to
the luxurious taste of the inhabitants in fitting their houses,
such as wall-papers and furniture, and those which are included
in the equipment of ocean-going steamers, have of late years
made rapid strides and are among the best productions of this
character of any German city;

Harbour. — It was the accession of Hamburg to the customs union

in 1888 which gave such a vigorous impulse to her more recent
commercial development. At the same time a portion of the port was
set apart as a free harbour, altogether an area of 750 acres of water
and 1750 acres of dry land. In anticipation of this event a gigantic
system of docks, basins and quays was constructed, at a total cost
of some £7,000,000 (of which the imperial treasury contributed
£2,000,000), between the confluence of the Alster and the railway
bridge (1868-1873), an entire quarter of the town inhabited by some
24,000 people being cleared away to make room for these accessories
of a great port. On the north side of the Elbe there are the Sandtor
basin (3380 ft. long, 295 to 427 ft. wide), in which British and Dutch
steamboats and steamboats of the Sloman (Mediterranean) line
anchor. South of this lies the Grasbrook basin (quayage of 2100 ft.
and 1693 ft. alongside), which is used by French, Swedish and
transatlantic steamers. At the quay point between these two basins there
are vast state granaries. On the outer (i.e. river) side of the
Grasbrook dock is the quay at which the emigrants for South America
embark, and from which the mail boats for East Africa, the boats of
the Woermann (West Africa) line, and the Norwegian tourist boats
depart. To the east of these two is the small Magdeburg basin,
penetrating north, and the Baaken basin, penetrating east, i.e.
parallel to the river. The latter affords accommodation to the
transatlantic steamers, including the emigrant ships of the
Hamburg-America line, though their “ocean mail boats” generally load and
unload at Cuxhaven. On the south bank of the stream there follow
in succession, going from east to west, the Moldau dock for river craft,
the sailing vessel dock (Segelschiff Hafen, 3937 ft. long, 459 to 886
ft. wide, 26¼ ft. deep), the Hansa dock, India dock, petroleum dock,
several swimming and dry docks; and in the west of the free port
area three other large docks, one of 77 acres for river craft, the others
each 56 acres in extent, and one 23¾ ft. deep, the other 26¼ ft. deep,
at low water, constructed in 1900-1901. In 1897 Hamburg was
provided with a huge floating dock, 558 ft. long and 84 ft. in maximum
breadth, capable of holding a vessel of 17,500 tons and draught
not exceeding 29 ft., so constructed and equipped that in time of
need (war) it could be floated down to Cuxhaven. During the last
25 years of the igth century the channel of the Elbe was greatly
improved and deepened, and during the last two years of the 19th
century some £360,000 was spent by Hamburg alone in regulating
and correcting this lower course of the river. The new Kuhwärder-basin,
on the left bank of the river, as well as two other large dock
basins (now leased to the Hamburg-American Company), raise the
number of basins to twelve in all.

Emigration. — Hamburg is one of the principal continental ports
for the embarkation of emigrants. In 1881-1890, on an average
they numbered 90,000 a year (of whom 60,000 proceeded to the
United States). In 1900 the number was 87,153 (and to the United
States 64,137). The number of emigrant Germans has enormously
decreased of late years, Russia and Austria-Hungary now being
most largely represented. For the accommodation of such passengers
large and convenient emigrant shelters have been recently erected
close to the wharf of embarkation.

Health and Population. — The health of the city of Hamburg and
the adjoining district may be described as generally good, no
epidemic diseases having recently appeared to any serious degree.
The malady causing the greatest number of deaths is that of
pulmonary consumption; but better housing accommodation has of
late years reduced the mortality from this disease very considerably.
The results of the census of 1905 showed the population of the city
(not including the rural districts belonging to the state of Hamburg)
to be 802,793.

Hamburg is well supplied with places of amusement, especially
of the more popular kind. Its Stadt-Theater, rebuilt in 1874, has
room for 1750 spectators and is particularly devoted to operatic
performances; the Thalia-Theater dates from 1841, and holds
1700 to 1800 people, and the Schauspielhaus (for drama) from 1900
people, and there are some seven or eight minor establishments.
Theatrical performances were introduced into the city in the 17th
century, and 1678 is the date of the first opera, which was played
in a house in the Gänsemarkt. Under Schröder and Lessing the
Hamburg stage rose into importance. Though contributing few
names of the highest rank to German literature, the city has been
intimately associated with the literary movement. The historian
Lappenberg and Friedrich von Hagedorn were born in Hamburg;
and not only Lessing, but Heine and Klopstock lived there for some

time.

History. — Hamburg probably had its origin in a fortress
erected in 808 by Charlemagne, on an elevation between the
Elbe and Alster, as a defence against the Slavs, and called
Hammaburg because of the surrounding forest (Hamme). In
811 Charlemagne founded a church here, perhaps on the site of
a Saxon place of sacrifice, and this became a great centre for
the evangelization of the north of Europe, missionaries from
Hamburg introducing Christianity into Jutland and the Danish
islands and even into Sweden and Norway. In 834 Hamburg
became an archbishopric, St Ansgar, a monk of Corbie and
known as the apostle of the North, being the first metropolitan.
In 845 church, monastery and town were burnt down by the
Norsemen, and two years later the see of Hamburg was united
with that of Bremen and its seat transferred to the latter city.
The town, rebuilt after this disaster, was again more than once
devastated by invading Danes and Slavs. Archbishop Unwan
of Hamburg-Bremen (1013-1029) substituted a chapter of
canons for the monastery, and in 1037 Archbishop Bezelin (or
Alebrand) built a stone cathedral and a palace on the Elbe.
In 1110 Hamburg, with Holstein, passed into the hands of
Adolph I., count of Schauenburg, and it is with the building
of the Neustadt (the present parish of St Nicholas) by his grandson,
Adolph III. of Holstein, that the history of the commercial
city actually begins. In return for a contribution to the costs
of a crusade, he obtained from the emperor Frederick I. in 1189
a charter granting Hamburg considerable franchises, including
exemption from tolls, a separate court and jurisdiction, and the
rights of fishery on the Elbe from the city to the sea. The city
council (Rath), first mentioned in 1190, had jurisdiction over
both the episcopal and the new town. Craft gilds were already
in existence, but these had no share in the government; for,
though the Lübeck rule excluding craftsmen from the Rath
did not obtain, they were excluded in practice. The counts, of
course, as over-lords, had their Vogt (advocatus) in the town,
but this official, as the city grew in power, became subordinate
to the Rath, as at Lübeck.

The wealth of the town was increased in 1189 by the destruction
of the flourishing trading centre of Bardowieck by Henry the
Lion ; from this time it began to be much frequented by Flemish
merchants. In 1201 the city submitted to Valdemar of Schleswig,
after his victory over the count of Holstein, but in 1225, owing
to the capture of King Valdemar II. of Denmark by Henry of
Schwerin, it once more exchanged the Danish over-lordship for
that of the counts of Schauenburg, who established themselves
here and in 1231 built a strong castle to hold it in check. The
defensive alliance of the city with Lübeck in 1241, extended
for other purpose by the treaty of 1255, practically laid the
foundations of the Hanseatic League (q.v.), of which Hamburg
continued to be one of the principal members. The internal
organization of the city, too, was rendered more stable by the
new constitution of 1270, and the recognition in 1292 of the
complete internal autonomy of the city by the count of Schauenburg.
The exclusion of the handicraftsmen from the Rath led,
early in the 15th century, to a rising of the craft gilds against
the patrician merchants, and in 1410 they forced the latter to
recognize the authority of a committee of 48 burghers, which
concluded with the senate the so-called First Recess; there
were, however, fresh outbursts in 1458 and 1483, which were
settled by further compromises. In 1461 Hamburg did homage
to Christian I. of Denmark, as heir of the Schauenburg counts;
but the suzerainty of Denmark was merely nominal and soon
repudiated altogether; in 1510 Hamburg was made a free
imperial city by the emperor Maximilian I.

In 1529 the Reformation was definitively established in
Hamburg by the Great Recess of the 19th of February, which
at the same time vested the government of the city in the Rath,
together with the three colleges of the Oberalten, the Forty-eight
(increased to 60 in 1685) and the Hundred and Forty-four
(increased to 180). The ordinary burgesses consisted of the
freeholders and the master-workmen of the gilds. In 1536
Hamburg joined the league of Schmalkalden, for which error
it had to pay a heavy fine in 1547 when the league had been
defeated. During the same period the Lutheran zeal of the
citizens led to the expulsion of the Mennonites and other
Protestant sects, who founded Altona. The loss this brought to
the city was, however, compensated for by the immigration of
Protestant refugees from the Low Countries and Jews from
Spain and Portugal. In 1549, too, the English merchant
adventurers removed their staple from Antwerp to Hamburg.

The 17th century saw notable developments. Hamburg had
established, so early as the i6th century, a regular postal service
with certain cities in the interior of Germany, e.g. Leipzig and
Breslau; in 1615 it was included in the postal system of Turn
and Taxis. In 1603 Hamburg received a code of laws regulating
exchange, and in 1619 the bank was established. In 1615 the
Neustadt was included within the city walls. During the Thirty
Years' War the city received no direct harm; but the ruin of
Germany reacted upon its prosperity, and the misery of the lower
orders led to an agitation against the Rath. In 1685, at the
invitation of the popular leaders, the Danes appeared before
Hamburg demanding the traditional homage; they were
repulsed, but the internal troubles continued, culminating in
1708 in the victory of the democratic factions. The imperial
government, however, intervened, and in 1712 the “Great
Recess” established durable good relations between the Rath
and the commonalty. Frederick IV. of Denmark, who had seized
the opportunity to threaten the city (1712), was bought off with
a ransom of 246,000 Reichsthaler. Denmark, however, only
finally renounced her claims by the treaty of Gottorp in 1768,
and in 1770 Hamburg was admitted for the first time to a
representation in the diet of the empire.

The trade of Hamburg received its first great impulse in 1783,
when the United States, by the treaty of Paris, became an
independent power. From this time dates its first direct
maritime communication with America. Its commerce was further
extended and developed by the French occupation of Holland
in 1795, when the Dutch trade was largely directed to its port.
The French Revolution and the insecurity of the political
situation, however, exercised a depressing and retarding effect.
The wars which ensued, the closing of continental ports against
English trade, the occupation of the city after the disastrous
battle of Jena, and pestilence within its walls brought about a
severe commercial crisis and caused a serious decline in its
prosperity. Moreover, the great contributions levied by
Napoleon on the city, the plundering of its bank by Davoust, and
the burning of its prosperous suburbs inflicted wounds from
which the city but slowly recovered. Under the long peace
which followed the close of the Napoleonic wars, its trade gradually
revived, fostered by the declaration of independence of
South and Central America, with both of which it energetically
opened close commercial relations, and by the introduction of
steam navigation. The first steamboat was seen on the Elbe on
the 17th of June 1816; in 1826 a regular steam communication
was opened with London; and in 1856 the first direct steamship
line linked the port with the United States. The great fire of
1842 (5th-8th of May) laid in waste the greatest part of the
business quarter of the city and caused a temporary interruption
of its commerce. The city, however, soon rose from its ashes,
the churches were rebuilt and new streets laid out on a scale of
considerable magnificence. In 1866 Hamburg joined the North
German Confederation, and in 1871, while remaining outside
the Zollverein, became a constituent state of the German empire.
In 1883-1888 the works for the Free Harbour were completed,
and on the 18th of October 1888 Hamburg joined the Customs
Union (Zollverein). In 1892 the cholera raged within its walls,
carried off 8500 of its inhabitants, and caused considerable losses
to its commerce and industry; but the visitation was not without
its salutary fruits, for an improved drainage system, better
hospital accommodation, and a purer water-supply have since
combined to make it one of the healthiest commercial cities of
Europe.